Prodigal’s return

Oh, how we love a prodigal who makes it. And oh how quickly we will dismiss those who remain on the wastrel path. A year ago this week, Kieren Fallon, the six times Champion jockey and winner of 15 Classics, started riding again in Britain for the first time since 2006. After the long absence from British racecourses, occasioned by two positive drug tests and earlier race-fixing charges which were dismissed in court, the Jeremiahs had a field day. Typical was the prediction: ‘By the time his suspension expires in the summer of 2009 he will be yesterday’s man’ and the headline: ‘Fallon: no way back for the finest talent of his generation.’

Some would rather he had stayed in obscurity. Others of us wanted to see him back in the saddle partly because we felt that Fallon, blessed with such prodigious talent, owed the racing community, although I guess we all felt nervous that he might still attract headlines for the wrong reasons.